Turkey Sausage, Kale and Honey Roasted Beets

Do you ever go on vacation, and maybe, bookend each day with a pan of biscuit beignets and at least two pina coladas, filling the space between with fried things and ice cream? Probably not you. Its probably only me. Probably.

Several warnings/comments about this meal. If you're not a dieter/weight watcher, this meal is full of vegetables and its delicious. Skip down to the directions. WW buddies, keep reading. IT IS NOT LOW IN POINTS ON THE CURRENT PROGRAM. It was on the original Points program. When I first started making this, I thought balsamic vinegar had zero points. IT DOESN'T. However, I've eaten this nearly every week and lost weight. I track all the points. I find this meal especially handy when I get back from vacation, and I'm used to eating off plan. This is very tasty, a little salty, a little sweet. I also eat this for dinner the night of weigh in. I eat light the night before, so by dinner, I'M HUNGRY.

This meal was inspired by a meal an old camp friend made when visiting and a honey mustard glazed carrot recipe from an unknown cookbook, belonging to a different camp friend.

Yield: 2 servings/17 Smart points per serving

While this meal doesn't require a ton of hands on time, you need to allow for 4 hours of marinating time, plus 40 minutes in the oven for roasting the beets.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of beets, peeled and sliced into thin, bite-sized pieces
1/3 Cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
10 Ounces smoked turkey sausage (I use butterball)
4 Cups kale, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces
pinch of salt
3 Ounces water


Prep your beets at least 5 hours before dinner. In a non-reactive container, combine 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil, balsamic, honey, and dijon. You might want to wear an apron, and have some clorox wipes handy. The beet/balsamic juice STAINS, clothes, tea towels, and counter tops. Beet juice especially likes to stain and collect around your fingernails, attractive, so take care.

Add sliced beets, and toss to coat.

Cover and refrigerate, or leave on the counter, like I do.

After at least four hours of marinating, heat your oven to 400℉. Cover a large, edged baking sheet with foil, or don't if you're really into the environment/washing dishes. Pour beets and marinade onto prepared pan, and spread beets into an even layer.

Bake at 400℉ for around 40 minutes. Start checking around 35 minutes, some blackness around the edges of the pan is desirable, but too much, and its just burnt. The middle should still be a little soupy.

Use a spatula and toss to combine, scraping the bottom of the pan.

Allow to cool on pan. Any excess juicy marinade should continue to condense into a syrupy/candy consistency as the pan cools. Set aside until you're ready to sauté your sausage and kale. Ten minutes before you eat, return beets to oven at 170℉ to hold warm.

While beets are warming, sauté sausage in a large, nonstick skillet on high for 3 minutes. I like to use the same spatula I scraped and stirred the beet pan with. I know. It looks a little gory, but that's sugary, delicious beet candy. Mix that in with the sausage, YUM.

Stir constantly, as the sausage tends to burn fairly quickly. At the end of three minutes, the sausage should be slightly browned... maybe with a few charred "flavor" spots.

Add water, turn heat down to medium, cover, and cook until water is absorbed/evaporated. Divide cooked sausage between two plates.

Return pan to stove, add oil, return heat to high, and add kale. Using tongs, toss kale in oil to evenly coat. Its a bit tricky, but doesn't need to be perfect. Once kale is evenly coated with oil, sprinkle with just a pinch of salt, and continue to sauté until kale is crispy and charred in spots.

Divide kale evenly between the two sausage plates. ONE PLATE AT A TIME, return each plate of sausage and kale to the hot pan, tossing to combine sausage grease with the kale. The only reason I do it separately is to assure that the sausage portions are equal. You can totally do it in one go if you're not tracking what you eat. My husband is usually looking at me impatiently at this point, but the taste is totally worth the extra step.


After returning the kale/sausage combo to each plate, divvy up your beets, stuff into face. Not super low in calories, a little high in sugar, but packed with protein and delicious veggies, the perfect meal to get you back on track.